Yamani Loyalty
by Seshira
Summary: Three years after Kel and her townspeople founded New Hope, she's been feeling restless, unhappy. When given a chance to go to the Yamani Isl. to fulfill a duty to a foreign king, what will she find in the beautiful, if deadly, Golden Court? (maybe D/K)
1. Dawn's Warning

Chapter One: Dawn's Warning.

It was morning again.

In the predawn light, mist bathed the newly cobbled streets in hues of grey and blue, swirling silver streamers into the ground like day after-fete ribbons. The dying gleam of the street lamps sputtered like bobbing spirits and as the sun rose over the eastern mountains, a yawning, barely-awake lamp-keeper climbed his ladder and extinguished them all, one by one.

The bell tower chimed the hour in a deep, tolling rumble and lights flickered in windows as the townsfolk stretched, groaned, and grumbled themselves awake. Smoke began to arise from chimneys, morning's greetings were cheerfully called among neighbors and New Hope began to awaken as the sun burned the last of the fog from the sky. 

Lady Keladry of Mindelan, Lady Knight to the Crown of Tortall, watched her town quietly from her position on the hillock, her glaive propped idly against her shoulder. The sparrows along her shoulders gave tiny, drowsy peeps and at her feet, Jump was curled into a ball, having, after a mournful glance, reluctantly abandoned the nice, toasty warmth beside the fireplace to follow his person up the hill.

Together, they had prowled the borders around the town, making sure there was no sign of attack or unrest. There wasn't. No Scanrans preparing to invade the little town of New Hope. No immortals lying in wait for an unwary child to stumble past. No Tusane knights, evil necromancers, or black-robed mage. 

A small smile crinkled the skin around Kel's eyes. All was well. 

She rose to her feet, sending a storm of feathered puffballs tumbling from her shoulder as she waved off the little sparrows. "Come on now, I can't practice with all of you sitting on me." She nudged the dog gently in the ribs. "You too. Move." Jump opened one eye pitifully and wagged his tail, but Kel just raised an eyebrow at him. "Go on now. Find some place else to sleep."

He gave a grumble and crankily got to his feet as Kel began her stretches. With careful precision, she started her warm ups, first her legs and feet, rotating her ankles methodically so they wouldn't lock up later, then her torso, arms, and neck. 

When she finally felt everything was as loose as it could get, she brought her glaive up and with graceful swings, began the first slow, almost dance-like steps to the Yamani glaive exercise. The long, heavy, weapon spun effortlessly in her hands and as the patterns got a little more difficult, she half closed her eyes, letting her surroundings fade away as the shining steel blade became her only focus.

Sweat plastered her hair to the sides of her face and she panted slightly as she sent the glaive flashing and blurring like the wings of a hummingbird, surrendering her whole body to the dance that was in every way as intricate as those in a ballroom. Her arms moved in tandem with her legs; her body rippled and flowed with every lightning quick thrust and parry and then, with a burst of energy, she sent the weapon twirling above her head. With a sudden, sweeping arc, she chopped the blade down in a swing that stopped only inches from the ground. 

Done.

"Well, it's good to see you haven't lost your touch, Lady Knight." 

She brought her head up to the sound of dry clapping, her whole body tensing, then just as quickly relaxing as she saw who it was. Only one man she knew had such sloe-black eyes and hair and was quiet enough to sneak up on her like that 

Raoul of Goldenlake regarded his former squire teasingly as he remarked, "And here I thought that months and months of staying in this nice, idyllic little town with nothing to do would addle your wits until you were as empty-headed as a conservative. So glad to know I was wrong."

Keladry snorted affectionately, shaking her head. "You're one to talk. Joints creaking and old age and arthritis catching up to you so much that you fell off your horse right in front of the Carthak ambassador, eh?" She chortled mercilessly as Raoul blushed, "Palace gossip has it that you looked very becoming sprawled face down like a bear-skin rug. Sprained your arm and wouldn't even see a healer for it. Stubborn, stubborn, stubborn."

"I was fine," Raoul grumbled, a little sourly, "It was only because my spur got stuck in the stirrup. When I find out who told you…" His eyebrow lowered threateningly, and Kel hid a grin.

She gave her former Knight Master her best Lump expression and shrugged, "I never kiss and tell."

"Unfortunately," He gave her a baleful glare that had her lips twitching. "You're as closemouthed as a…as a…."

"Yamani?" she provided helpfully, reminding him of the years she had spent on the Islands.

"I was going to say a God-sworn priest, but Yamani will do very well too." 

She grinned at him slightly. "So what has you down instead of prowling the kingdom with the rest of the Third?"

Was it just her or did his expression close a little? 

"Later," He muttered evasively and abruptly clapped her on her back, almost sending her to sprawling to the ground. Almost too brightly, he continued, "Well, if you're finished, let's get you back to your local tavern where we can gossip like old fishwives over a hot cup of ale." He chuckled, a little maliciously as he put an arm around her shoulder, leading her back towards the now-bustling town. "After all, it seems only fair that if my name's gotten besmirched, I should gossip with you about _everyone_ else you know!"

*~*~*

The sound of laughter died away as Kel wiped tears from her eyes, still having a good chuckle at the expense of her friends' reputations. "I can't imagine Neal speechless," She admitted with a grin, "It must have been priceless."

"It was. Especially when your friend, Yuki swore that he would go no where near the marriage bed ever again if she had anything to do with it," Raoul's eyes twinkled merrily, "The nurse tells us that in the middle of pushing, she was threatening to castrate him and if she survived bringing his child into the world, she would go after him with a glaive if he touched her again."

Kel commented shakily, "That must have…dismayed…him."

Raoul raised his eyebrows, "Yuki—ouch!—let's rethink this." He mimicked Neal's voice with such accuracy that Kel's shoulders started shaking again, "If we—_ow!—_are very careful then—_ow, ow, ow, ow…_you'll break my hand, beloved—we can make sure not to have —OW—children next time. Infertility charms are—ow—very…_push, _push…now there's a girl—easy to….dear one, you're almost finished…make."

"Poor Neal." Kel's smile trembled with more laughter. "Poor Yuki. But I wish I had been there for little Shinji's birthing though…" She sighed a little, slouching back in her chair. It had been three years since she had, with her group of townsfolk and orphans, founded New Hope. Three years and all her friends were moving ahead with their lives. Besides the marriage of the Royal Couple, Merric had gotten himself betrothed with some Baroness and was deeply in love, Cleon had married his heiress and word had it that they made a beautiful couple in court. If Raoul finally got the courage to go against family and tradition, he would make Buri a very happy woman…although the question remained whether he would show up at his own wedding or whether he would be found hiding behind the drapes in dread of the ceremony. 

At the palace, things were changing…and in the little town of New Hope, things didn't seem to change at all. Of course she had a great responsibility and the people _did _need her to help run the day to day of the town, but as the mayor-hall was set up and a council elected, Kel found herself to be more and more out of place.

To put it lightly, she was _bored. She wanted to feel needed, and, she admitted to herself dryly, the townspeople could very well take care of themselves now.  She wanted a change of scenery, border patrolling…_anything_ to keep herself busy. She barely got to see her old friends anymore, she thought with the beginnings of depression. Sure they visited, once or twice a year but it was different. She missed the closeness, the camaraderie, just being able to talk and have fun with people…_

With a jerk, Kel realized that Raoul was watching her speculatively and immediately, she smoothed her face into a blank expression of inquiry…that seemed to amuse him.

"You're Lump expression is getting easier to read," He remarked, easing back in his seat. "Or maybe that's because I've known you so long?"

Keladry ran through all the things that she could say to that comment and decided the best course was to change the subject. 

Quickly.

Spreading her arms wide, she gestured to the remains of the meal, raising her brown in question. "Well, you've wined me, dined me, and entertained me, so why don't we cut off the chase, M'lord? You didn't come all the way from the capital just to make me laugh."

Raoul grinned, still hedging. "Well, it's good for you to laugh sometimes. Seems to me you haven't been doing much of it. And technically, you're paying for all of this you know." He gave her a rakish glance. "I'm just a poor border knight."

Kel just watched him with her Yamani-calm eyes until the big knight started squirming. In any other occasion that would have been funny. In this situation, it was more alarming than anything. "You'll have to tell me eventually," She said gently, "If it's as bad as you're making it seem, you should have told me as soon as you saw me, Sir Raoul."

Raoul looked at his former squire gruffly, "Technically since you're a knight, you can stop M'lording and Siring me—all right!" He said quickly when Kel frowned at him. "His Imperial Highness sent ambassadors to the capital about a week ago, calling for your family."

Kel shook her head, a little puzzled, "Well, he's _been_ sending ambassadors ever since Roald and Shinko married—"

"He asked for _your family." Raoul clarified firmly. "And you in specifically."_

"Wha—?" Kel sat up a little straighter, her face suddenly as still as stone and her dreamy hazel eyes sharpened. "Tell me, now." She said quietly.

Raoul sighed. "I can't tell you what I don't know; you know how insular the Yamani's are." Raising his sober black eyes, he said quietly, "But the ambassador says to tell you this: if ever you owed your loyalty to the Yamani Imperial Crown, then you will come with all due speed to the capital. He said to give you this." From the fold of his tunic, Raoul produced a small envelope and Kel took it from him, opening quickly.

A heavy stone object fell in her lap and she ignored it in favor of opening the letter. It contained only three lines of verse.

_aki__ wo saku.  
kirei, kono iro wa...  
chi no hana des._

Kel felt the blood drain from her face and quickly picked up the object. It was the imperial seal. 

"Bright Goddess," She breathed softly, so quietly that Raoul had to strain to hear.  "Someone's trying to kill the Emperor."

tbc…

*translation of the poem

red blooms

beautiful, the color

blood's flower.

Yes, I wrote it myself so it's a bit…sucky. And probably has a thousand and one grammar mistakes…in three lines. xP. 

So basically, that's chapter one for yah. I'm new in the fandom so please be gentle! =^^= review…if only to tell me how cheap and clichéd the plotline is…


	2. Questions of a King

**Questions of a King.**

For the first time in a long time, His Royal Majesty, King Jonathan of Tortall didn't know how to handle the unexpected visit of the foreign visitor that had been taking up residence in one of the Palace guest rooms for at least a week and a half now….without explaining exactly _why_ he was here.

The man had arrived almost on his doorstep without any of the pomp or ceremony that Jon had come to expect of the State visits and without preamble, had explained that he was Kotoko Shihagiri, one of the ten royal advisors to His Imperial Highness, Rising Sun of the Western Kingdoms and All that Lay Therein. With uncustomary un-Yamani-like frankness, he explained that he was here, not to pay a visit to the royal couple (may their marriage be showered by fortune), but to speak to the Mindelans that had once saved the Sacred Swords from desecration and more specifically, to Lady Keladry of Mindalen who had lived in His Imperial Highness's Golden Lotus Court as a child. It was imperative that he be able to speak with them with all due haste. 

That said, he had sat down on the floor of the Guest Room and promptly become their Majesty's newest lawn ornament, eating little and moving not at all from his bowed position. Only the word that Lord Shihagiri still responded when spoken to had convinced Jonathan that the Yamani ambassador had not indeed turned into a slab of granite where he sat. 

Although even _those _responses didn't really explain much. Gary had tried to divine his reason for coming…only to be met with painfully polite evasions. Shinkokami had come to seek out news of the Yamani Islands...only to spend the rest of the afternoon listening to a solemn lecture on her duty to both the Yamani and Tortallan people as a Princess to both kingdoms. He had even sent Miles of Olau to speak with the ambassador…only to have Miles come out and tell him, rather sheepishly, that he and the ambassador had had a rather delightful conversation on their different experiences growing up in court.

And if Miles of Olau, his chief Spymaster and information gatherer, couldn't pry anything out of the stone-faceed Yamani, Jonathan was pretty sure that he wasn't going to have much more luck in that department, no matter what Gary said.

With a mental sigh, Jonathan gave the door one polite rap and eased into the room with a perfunctory nod of his head. "Ambassador Shihagiri."

The man looked up, in what had to be the first movement in days at least, and upon seeing who it was, immediately bowed his head over his knees until his forehead touched the ground. Almost as if he had memorized the speech by rote, and Jonathan was sure he had, he began, "My Imperial Emperor sends greeting to his cousin by blood and marriage and hopes that the flower of knowledge and freedom in the Eastern Lands, the most luminous country of Tortall itself, prospers and blooms as any seedling would under the tender care of vigilant caretaker."

Jonathan's lips twitched in carefully concealed amusement. Trust a Yamani to orchestrate a beautifully executed poetic masterpiece that simply said, 'Hello.'

"Please rise. There need not be such formality amongst allies." When the ambassador had settled back in his former position, Jon knelt on a cushion that a silent servant had placed on the floor and for a few minutes, the two men regarded each other contemplatively. After a while, Jonathan folded his hands on his lap and said candidly, "I have dispatched messengers to the south and west, and while the Lady and Lord of Mindalen are serving as Our ambassadors in the Empire of Carthak, Sir Keladry of Mindalen sends word that she comes with all due haste and shall be arriving within the day."

 Something that _might just have been relief flickered in the careful blankness of the ambassador's almond-brown eyes and he inclined his head slightly in acknowledgement and thanks. "On behalf of my Master, his Imperial Majesty, I do thank you for the promptness in which you have sent for Lady Keladry, Your Highness. Truly as a good neighbor should, you offer your hand to us in time of our need."_

Well that was as good an opening as he was ever going to get. Leaning forward, Jonathan replied quietly, with almost (just almost) Yamani-like grace, "Ambassador Shihagiri, you have honored my Palace with your visit for one and a half weeks now, and you have told no one of your reason for this visit. And yet, many can see the anxiety that rests heavy on your brow, and we would wish to know if we can offer more in order to alleviate your burden."

Immediately, the ambassador bowed again. "Such words show the true friendship and honor that the Crown of Tortall gives to its Yamani neighbors. I give you most fervent thanks for Your concern. The Sovereign of Tortall is a most gracious host and this humble servant from a distant sovereign is grateful and flattered by your generosity of spirit, so little seen in the world of today."

Jon paused, easily seeing the evasions through all the flowery flattery. "But…can we _help you?"_

"You are wise as well as gracious," the ambassador looked at him with a calm, bland eye and folded his hand serenely in his lap, "and the people of Tortall are lucky indeed to be blessed with such a king. We have heard rumors in the Yamani court of the beauty and bounty of Tortall but I did not truly believe until I came here. Is this a particularly fruitful year or is it this….normal?" There was a smidgen of doubt in Lord Shihagiri's voice, as if he truly doubted that Tortall could _ever be this wonderful, despite rumor._

Jon sighed as the ambassador rather smoothly switched topics _again _and this time tried also to needle his pride into defending his country, thereby forgetting to continue on his former vein of discussion. _Very clever, this ambassador.__ All I've learned so far is that whatever this is…he's holding it so close to his heart that nothing short of Carthaki black-robe could pry it out of him, and even then, I doubt it. Or Numair. But my old friend has, unfortunately at this time, a pesky thing called morals. _

_It's like trying to woo a maiden, prying his secret out of him. All you get is, "Thank you for caring. I won't tell you anything, but now then, let's talk about you." _

Jonathan made the barest of responses, trying not to be annoyed. 

But he was. Just a little. He wouldn't _show it of course….but…well…Goddess Bless it, this was __his castle, in __his city and he wanted to know_

why there was a brightly robed Yamani High Lord sitting in his ambassadorial suites, seeming, for all the world, to be trying to turn himself into a slab of stone! 

Jon eyed him for a moment longer, then said abruptly, "If I had a mind to be offended, I could take your evasions to me and my court in a very negative light."

He expected excuses, perhaps more flattery and disavowal of any evasions, but the Yamani Lord nodded soberly, once more touching his head to the floor, "I apologize, Your Highness, but this small prevarication is necessary…at least until the Lady Keladry arrives. Please allow me my small eccentricities a while longer." 

"And then you will tell us this great secret when my Knight arrives?"

"I will tell you all that I am allowed to tell."

Jon just nodded and gave a mental sigh. _When I was a child, there was a reason I wanted to be king right? So I could snap my fingers and Gods willing, my word be done. And here I am. Still waiting. Doesn't this job have _any_ perks anymore?_

Almost as if his thoughts had been an impetus, a herald messenger burst through the door, giving the barest imitation of a bow before gasping, having obviously run long and hard, "Yer…Majesty. Ye wanted t'know th'minute…th'Lady Knight….stepped foot'n Corus, sir. Well, sh'n the Knight Commander'r comin' down the main boulevard, ridin' like th'hounds o' the Black God r'on their heels…yer worship." He added the title belatedly and slumped against doorframe, completely exhausted.

"Good man," Jon said with an approving nod, "Thank you for telling us. Before returning to your post, take a few minutes off to rest and feed yourself. You must be tired and I don't want you to be dehydrated."

The man flashed his sovereign a gap-toothed grin and a jaunty salute before disappearing out the door. When the runner had left, Jonathan let himself smile complacently at the Yamani ambassador.

_I love my job._

~*~

Keladry had barely gotten off Peachblossom before she was hauled into Lalasa's sitting room with barely a "Hello, m'lady. It's good to see you again." And there, she ran upon an insurmountable ambush that not even _she _could run around: three ladies with various bolts of cloth and determined expressions on their faces. 

For the next hour, they mauled her and draped with various combinations of Mindalen blue and cream, snaked measuring tapes across her waist ("You've gotten skinnier, m'lady! Don't they feed you?!") and arms and legs until she barely kept from screaming with the thinnest thread of her considerable Yamani will. Jump, the traitor, sat in a corner well away from all the bustling ladies, opened his mouth in a pant and _laughed_ at her.

"Lalasa," she said to her former servant from between her clenched teeth, "I don't have _time for this. I need to see the ambassador _immediately_ and really, I don't think he would care if I walk in there as naked as a jaybird as long as I _get_ there!"_

Lalasa smiled at her sweetly as she pinned together a pattern for one of Kel's kimono sleeves but merely replied, "You haven't been in the Palace a long time, m'lady, if you think you can just off your horse and waltz into the ambassadorial suites with the mud still stuck to the heel of your boot. And no one's going to say that I'm not taking care of you right letting you do that."

Kel rolled her eyes; she couldn't help it. "I was twenty one this past spring! I think I'm a tad too old to be taken care of, don't you?"

"Nobles are never too old to be taken care of," one of the other servants provided helpfully, "They think they have the world resting on their shoulders and forget to do normal stuff. Like eat. And run a hot shower."

Kel flushed. Tobe had said the same thing more than once when she had become dug into 'plottin' and plannin' mischief' as he called it. Without him, her workroom would be consumed by the sheer mass of papers, folders, and maps and she would be hard pressed to find decent space to even think about sitting down. 

"Be that as it may, it's _because we think the world is 'resting on our shoulders' that we try to change it and make it better and Lalasa can I please _go now?!_" If she wasn't too old and too mature to do it, her voice would have been called nearly a whine and she fixed Lalasa with an exasperated if-I-don't-get-out-of-here-in-five-seconds-there's-going-to-be-some-unusable-ripped-fabric-lying-around glare._

The seamstress grinned and finally (_finally!) _waved the rest of her helpers off and tossed Kel a bundle of clothing. "Get behind that screen and change, m'lady. Tian, Jenny and I will have the rest of the designs done by tomorrow night, won't we ladies?" A chorus of cheerful agreement filled the room and Kel ducked gratefully behind the screen.

"Don't make anything too elaborate, please," Kel pleaded as she hauled on the soft, full legged pants and the loose shirt. "I need to walk and fight in those!"

Lalasa sighed wistfully, "As you wish, m'lady. But when are you going to come to me for something finer? Like…a ball gown or a woman's riding habit instead of your usual pants and shirts. Maybe even a wedding dress." There was a sputtered squawk and the screen that Keladry was behind almost fell down as she knocked clumsily against it.

"A _whaat__?!"_

"Well, it's about that time," Lalasa offered philosophically as the other ladies stuffed their fists into their mouth to keep from laughing. "Girls are usually ten and eight when their mums begin eyein' the young bucks and buying debutant dresses. You've not even made your official bow and you're one and twenty."

The Lady Knight emerged from behind the screen, her face in a Lump expression but her ears were burning a deep shade of pink. "I made my bow as a knight of the realm. I don't _need to be reintroduced to court, Lalasa; they know me." She gave the others a small smile of thanks and hugged her former maid. "Thank you. I'll catch up with you later, alright?"_

Almost in the same breath, she was gone, her footsteps fading down the hall as she shouted for a page to bring her to the guest rooms. Lalasa sighed, "She gets older and older every time I see her," she said nostalgically. "I remember when she was still growing like a weed and ripping the seams out of her clothes at least every week or so."

"They never stay young for long," Jenny agreed, "I've got two of 'em myself, and boy they can't wait to leave their old mum and join the Riders. And they're only twelve! They're always in a hurry to grow up and do something."

"Well this young lass is hurrying so much, she forgot her boots," Tian chuckled quietly, eyeing the abandoned pair of muddy leather boots that Jump was currently worrying with his teeth, "I wonder how far she'll get before she sends back for them?"

~*~

Kel was very aware she had no boots on a few minutes later as she sat drinking green tea, not only with High Lord Shihagiri of the Kotoko family, but also with the sovereign of her own country, who frequently glanced at her stocking-ed feet as if to make sure that one of his knights had _really run around the castle without her shoes on._

_Stone_, Kel reminded herself, calmly taking a sip of nice, rich tea from her cup, _let all of it roll over and off you like water._

She turned back to the High Lord, setting her cup carefully on the lowered table with a barely audibly click. Studying her hands meditatively, she began quietly, "I must confess to some confusion over your note, my Lord Shihagiri."

King Jonathan lifted his eyebrow in query, "If you wouldn't mind Keladry, my lord, what note are you speaking of?" 

Kel gave him a distracted look of apology, and fished the square of paper from her belt pouch. "Milord Raoul gave this note to me in addition to the Yamani family's imperial seal, your Majesty," She said, passing him the note with both hands, "when he road up to New Haven to retrieve me."

The king studied it for a moment, his brow furrowing in concentration before he glanced up at Keladry and the Yamani ambassador, almost accusingly, "This seems to be a bit of poetry, if I'm not mistaken, about flowers."

Kel nodded, her eyes a little disturbed although no other emotion showed on the Yamani calm of her face. "The falling of flowers, I assume these are Sakura blooms, are often an euphemism for death or an end to a cycle, your Majesty, just as we might use the phrase 'eternal rest' or 'in the Black God's hands'. 'Chi' can mean life energy, or balance within and with nature, but it is also the character for blood.  The imperial seal tells me that the royal family that is under attack and perhaps even specifically, the Emperor." She glanced at the silent ambassador, tightening her clammy hands around the warmth of the teacup. "But I hope I am wrong, my Lord, when I say you imply there are assassins in the Golden Lotus Court that have gotten past the royal bodyguards to touch the Emperor himself."

Shihagiri bowed his head. "You are not incorrect, Keladry of Mindalen, although it shames me to admit it. There has been protest against one of Yamani royal blood marrying a foreigner, no matter how high in rank and no matter how honored our ally. There have been demonstrations against it on the street of the capital itself. My Emperor rode out to quell it and in the middle of the Royal procession, an assassin got through the bodyguards and stabbed the Son of Heaven. We subdued and detained him of course, but," the Yamani's eyes were bleak, "while held in detention, he swallowed a cyanide tablet and killed himself. There have been three more attempts since then"

Jonathan narrowed his eyes, a muttered oath passing through his lips and Kel tightened her fingers around her mug until the knuckles showed white. "How long has this been going on?" Jonathan demanded, "And why did you not inform us that your people were against this alliance?"

"We did not want to trouble our allies," Shihagiri sighed, "In time of war, it was necessary to find allies and the citizens of the Islands were in agreement. It is only that now, they believe that Yaman, like a sunflower that swivels its head to follow the sun, should look back west upon itself and worry no more of outsiders and their wars. His Imperial Highness, in his wisdom, did not think that would be possible and sought an alliance with Tortall, having found their ambassadors to be strong of will and mind, on par with the oldest of the Yamani houses." He looked up and caught Kel's eyes. "That is why we need you to protect the Emperor. Come back to the Yamani Islands, Lady Keladry, and take up your place in his court again."

"You want me to go to back to the Yamani Islands," Kel's voice was curiously flat and emotionless, "To protect the Emperor."

"Yes." The ambassador nodded once.

Jonathan glanced between them, "If you wish to go, Sir Keladry, I will give you royal permission and ambassador's status."

"I don't think an ambassador's status is going to save me from what Lord Shihagiri has planned." Kel murmured, a funny tone in her voice. She looked at the ambassador steadily for a long time then abruptly shook her head. "I believe that we have two different definitions of the word 'protect', my Lord." She said quietly. "I think your definition would be detrimental to my health."

"What?" Jon asked sharply.

She looked at him with cold eyes. "I am to be used as a scapegoat, Your Majesty. If I go back to the Islands, what m'Lord is hoping is that they'll stop targeting the Emperor and go after me instead. Since I am _gaijin and the Emperor is not. What better way to stop them from killing the Emperor than to give the people another person to hate?" She glanced at the Yamani ambassador. "Forgive me for being frank. Perhaps I have misjudged your motives?"_

Shihagiri wouldn't look at Kel, "You have a duty to the Yamani Emperor as well as your own King, Keladry of Mindalen and the Inner Lotus Court."

Keledry said nothing, but she never looked more forbidding and angry beneath her expressionless façade as she did then.

Tbc…

**_Glimpse of the future:_**

"What's got you so mad?" Dom looked at his friend with troubled eyes as she swung and twisted her glaive around her head, the spearhead flashing and glittering angrily. At an attempt at levity, he added, "You'll be there to protect the Emperor. You would have gotten shot at anyway. I think they list that as part of the job contract."

s

Kel snarled. "I…hate…it when people…try to…use me….like I'm some sort of dray horse….or packmule….or some…_thing…that's there for their….pleasure! And I _especially_ hate it when…they think I'm too stupid….to understand that! Does he __think I don't know what's going on? He wanted me to go to the Islands with him….without ever telling me….that they were using me as a scapegoat….to _all_ of the Yamani population…_and_ he wanted me to bring Mother and Father!" With that she slammed her glaive on the ground, panting hard. "He doesn't care if we die…public apologies to the Crown for the death of their Knight are easy to make after the fact….__that's how low he thinks of us, Dom."_

**_RTR_**  (response to readers: my favz)

**mae15** - ^^;; I don't know if this is 'soon', but here t'is! Hope it doesn't  disappoint!

**queenofdiamonds - :-D I hope it turns out Kel/Dom too….even though our cute, dry-witted young sergeant has yet to make an appearance.**

**jazy716** - =^^= thanks! I didn't know if it was original or not and I came in like "oh-kay, I'm going to get crucified for yet another over used plot-idea." -_-;; thanks for the reassurance and I hope you liked the second chapter!

**Felix The ****Phoenix -  O.o;; I…er…guess I deserved that…heehee. Me: *Hands Felix insults on a platter* er…I wrote the next chapter so please don't…faint….yes….you might like, conk your head on a table or something…and I'd be responsible for your resultant concussion….^^;;; and that would make me feel bad.**

**clarylissa**** – err…*_^ ? heehee**

**Tweety**** - =^^= thank you for the review! And I'll try to continue it as regularly as possible!**

**Lady Sandrilene **- ^^;;; sorry, I don't think k/n is remotely possible at this point…since I said in the first chapter that Neal was married to Yuki and just broke his hand trying to help his wife deliver their first child as comic relief. I REALLY don't want Neal cheating on Yuki, and I think he's too chivalrous to do that anyway…so sorry!

**Cartooned** - :-D is this considered soon m'lord ruler of the world? Don't tell her I said this, but you know that girl over there? Well she said _she's _the Insan_est Ruler of the World and there isn't anyone as insane as she is…..heehee_

 

**Darke**** Angel –the "D' in D/K at least in this story is Dom….^^ no…it's Kel and a Dustbunny romance, forbidden love! She was a knight…and he was sucked up by a vacuum cleaner! Can they ever find each other across the social and physical gulf that separates them? Hee hee, no no, I'm kidding. I have a weird sense of humor. Don't mind me. **

**Jamie **– thank you for your review and critique! I love it when people give me tips on how my writing is. And yes, the poem is written Japanese because it seemed to me that Tamora Pierce really took off that culture to describe the Yamani. All the terminology was, anyway. Perhaps I'm wrong?

Muse: wouldn't be the first time, you dork.

Me: Shut up…..

As you can see, my muse and I don't get along. *laughs* hope you liked this chapter! 

**Vilranda** – I hope that kind of explained how Kel knew when she had only three lines of poetry and a seal to go by. She made the comment to Raoul once that they made poetry of blossoms falling or the patterns of it in the air etc, so one would assume that she would understand all those Insightful and Meaningful nuances of Yamani poetry. ^^;;

**Verne Lata** – thank you for your praise! I hope I continue to live up to your standards and keep the characters from spinning wildly out of character. :-) I hope you got my email about my fic…if not, my dratted Yahoo isn't working…AGAIN! Thanx for the suggestion about the mailing list thing!

If anyone else wants to be put on a mailing list, I'd be glad get an email out to you. Just toss your email addy out to me in a review and I'll give you a shout out when I post the next chappy. Take care all….and gee, doesn't that button that says "review" look so goshdarned lonely? *smiles hopefully*


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